The Mortal's Mist
by AngelInDisguise123
Summary: Penny, the daughter of Poseidon and sister of Percy, is whisked off to Camp Halfblood to learn how to be a hero. But what happens when the Mist starts fading?
1. Chapter 1

The Mortal's Mist

A School Trip Goes Way Wrong

I've always had had a crummy childhood. I mean it.

When I was a baby, my mother gave me away because she couldn't take care if me (Mom always said that, you know, _mom_ had a guy she was marrying who literally hated kids. Sucks to him.) So I was sent to a Virginian home. I lived in Richmond, Virginia for the summers and I, well, each school my mom could find for me. That wasn't easy, considering that I have dyslexia and ADHD. But Mom always found a school for me. That was a miracle considering that I blew up some of those learning centers.

But even with all that stuff, I was a pretty happy person especially when I went to Virginia Beach. I was always so calm. My life felt perfect when I was there. For some reason, I saw faces in the waves. I shook my head and went back to playing with the other kids. Unlike most kids at the beach, I didn't waste precious time building wimpy sandcastles. Apparently, they couldn't see that there were some teenagers about five times their size waiting to smash their creation. Me and my friend, McKenna, tried that once. I got so bored. McKenna got really upset when the bullies crushed hers. She once bit them, but that's another story. Sarah was always the nicer of us two and somehow always found lots of kelp and seaweed to help decorate the non-damaged castles. Not that it mattered… When I was in the water things were always better for me.

I know, I know, it sounds weird, because, well it is. I never fit in with my friends at the previous schools, ever. McKenna's the only one who stayed by my side and backed me up. The others all rolled their eyes whenever I said that someone was watching me or something. I never had a normal life, so when I found out I was a demigod, I wasn't too shocked.

It happened like this.

I was walking to class when I saw a man in a motorized chair come into the halls of my school, I felt sorry for him. He saw me and gave me a big smile. I waved back, to make a good impression. This was the only way for teachers to like me. I went back to class then.

I looked at my schedule again (since this was my first week here). I had Greek next. I groaned. My dyslexia was gonna embarrass me again. I went into the classroom and slumped down into my desk. Some girls were taking out lip gloss and smothering it on their lips. I rolled my eyes. The guys next to me thought that it was hot though. I wasn't too fond of watching live flirting so I just took out the sheet of paper my Mom gave me. It said:

Dear Teachers,

My daughter, Penelope should get used to the complexity of your school before she is given serious grading and all. Thank You!

-Melinda Morse

I scribbled in:

P.S. Don't let her read in front in class long pieces of literature.

Hoping the teacher didn't notice the difference between my scribble and her calligraphy; I hesitantly walked up to the front of the room and gave the sheet of paper to the teacher.

"Um, excuse me?" I said.

The chair turned around. It was the man in the wheelchair. "Yes, may I help you Penny?" I was going to say 'How do you know my name?' but then I remembered the nametag I had on.

"My mother wanted you to see this, I need it back though. She said all my teachers need to read it." He nodded.

"It's fine. I always had a problem with reading too." I was getting freaked out but then he laughed and said, "It was in your record." I nodded and went back to my desk. I've always overreacted before. But for a good reason. It felt as if the hairs on the back of my neck were standing on end. Usually, I'd turn around to see a guy in a leather jacket or an old woman whose eyes seemed like they knew for more of me than I knew.

Someone passed out workbooks and I got out my pencil. It had dolphins swimming around the easer. I looked at it and smiled. The boy next to smiled and said "Dolphins are so, so human-like." I looked at him and said, "In Greek myths, Dionysus made dolphins out of people."

He nodded and I added, "I used to read a lot of Greek Myths when I was little." He nodded. I smiled and then class started. At least he didn't whisper to his buddies down the isle, "Who the heck reads books these days?" The teacher wheeled to the front of the room. I was off to a good start.

"Hello! My name is Mr. Brunner. This is Greek 101. I hope that you children will enjoy this academic course. I am saying this because I see that we have a new student. Penelope, could you say hello to the class?" Mr. Brunner asked.

I got up and waved a quick hello. The class waved back to me. Then class started. I wasn't lost with all those weird syllables and all. Even Mr. Brunner was impressed with me.

_This isn't too bad, I could get used to life here._ But I was wrong. Way wrong.

I was happier than ever before, I was floating, well almost. My grades were good, I made friends, I had easy classes, and I wasn't treated like a freak, yet.

That all changed when I got to go to the field trip of a life time. I was going to be going to the Marine Life Science Museum in Newport. I was really excited to see all the dolphins and seals and orcas (well, you get the picture, I love sea animals). People were excited, but my friend Grover looked nervous.

"I am so happy to get out of school! Aren't you Penny?" my friend McKenna asked me.

"No, I _want_ to stay in English and embarrass myself with trying to read aloud in class." I rolled my eyes. "Of _course_ I'm happy that we're going!" I said laughing a little bit.

We talked about all the possibilities of what animals we would see and all. I wished that I could swim with the dolphins; it would've been so cool! But instead I get killed. Almost.

Once we were at the museum we split into groups, our teachers had chosen them for us, which followed by groans and silent cussing out the teachers. Actually, I was actually pretty happy that they were chosen for us. I for one didn't want to make the mistake of choosing someone obnoxious. Or the obnoxious person finds me. Besides, my friend McKenna has other friends who _hate_ me. This would be great.

"Penelope Jackson with Grover Underwood and McKenna Shaw as a group, please." I grinned. This was gonna be fun. But then the teacher said who we were gonna be with, "Mrs. Smithson." My eyes almost popped out of my head, she loathes, detests, despises, HATES me and I would be spending the next three hours with her! Just my luck, just my luck.

The first part of the tour wasn't too bad besides some girls constantly asking why the whales had to be saved. Whales are awesome and I almost lost my temper then and there, but Mrs. Smithson smiled and told them why each time. I rolled my eyes the first couple of times, but after the third time, I was pissed at them. We saw the Sea Otters playing around and some kelp and watched a move about the life of krill. Nothing special.

"When are we gonna see the dolphins?" I asked impatiently. "I didn't just pay 30 bucks for my Science teacher to talk about the joys that kelp brought us." I muttered silently. "Or the lifespan of krill," my McKenna giggled. Mrs. Smithson gave me a half-hearted smile and said after lunch. I groaned. Once I swore her eyes turned red and she moistened her lips while looking at me.

I shook it off and then I went to talk to another friend, Grover. He's the kind of guy who talks tough, but shivers when he sees the real thing. Obviously, he was scared about something. I saw him shake when McKenna pushed him a little too close to Mrs. Smithson.

"You're shaking," I gave him a nudge. "What's the prob?" For a second, his pupils went flat, but a second later, it was normal again. I thought I was imagining things and shook it off. He turned and said. "Oh, me," he snorted, "I'm not scared. Why would I be scared?"

"It's alright, Grover," I said, "Mrs. Smithson's freaky. There are rumors about her dating the Grim Reaper." He seemed a bit annoyed, but he smiled a bit. "Hey, let's just talk about penguins." I waddled a bit which got his small smile wider.

We were talking for a little bit, until we came to the main hall where another movie was showing, _Maybe the __Lifespan of Anemone _I thought, but Mrs. Smithson took me aside. Mr. Brunner was sitting in his chair and said he would come along, Mrs. Smithson couldn't agree more, but I felt even more nervous. I caught a glance of Grover who went deathly pale.

Then Mrs. Smithson went to talk about my conduct (I zoned out, because I heard this too many times before) but as I was drifting out of attention, I noticed that two other people appeared next to her, and that she lost both her eyes and all her teeth. Her skin was growing paler and browner. Wings erupted from her back. I was freaking when she pinned me to the ground but then I saw something float through the air and it landed next to me, it was an bow and arrow with a bronze point. I didn't know how the heck to use this thing, but I watched enough adventure movies on Youtube to understand the whole concept. I shot the bat-like Mrs. Smithson's and then a cloud of dust fluttered and dropped to the ground. I coughed and ran outside gasping for breath and my head was screaming for me, so I wasn't freaking out as much as normal.

Later that week I asked if anyone had seen Mrs. Smithson. They all looked at me like I was crazy and said I must be going crazy, because she'd never worked there. I was ready to lose it after the tenth time, but then I heard Grover talking to Mr. Brunner.

"She saw. I know. I've heard her ask twenty people or so," Grover told Mr. Brunner. "She seems ready to lose it."

"We don't know if it was _her_ they're looking for, it may be someone else." Mr. Brunner said drifting off, and whatever they were talking about, it couldn't be good, so I listened on (in case it involved my friends or anything.)

"It's her; I can feel it, just like I did with Percy!" Grover nearly shouted, "It's the link I made with him, it must have gone into her somehow…"

Now that he mentioned it, I have always felt a close connection with Grover, even though I have only known him for a few weeks. This made me want to listen closer. I strained my ear while their voices grew softer.

"You're saying that..." Mr. Brunner wandered off.

"Yes it's possible that-" Grover started, I ran because a teacher was walking down the halls then and it was past curfew. I was scared, I was about to wet myself! I didn't know why Grover was talking to Mr. Brunner, but I knew if they knew I'd been listening, I was cooked. I knew it couldn't be good, and I swore to God Mr. Brunner had a pair of hooves under his desk! My mind was playing tricks on me, but that assumption was wrong. Way wrong.


	2. Chapter 2

I Think I'm Going Crazy!

SUMMER! That was the only thing going through my mind on June 6th. Even though I would miss everyone, I wanted to beat that old dump of a school. I felt tingly even looking at it. This was one of the few schools that were still standing after I've been there. There. I'd accomplished something.

When I was on the train (can you believe it, they _have _trains now-a-days!) my friends were talking about the things that they were going to do this summer. Grover was twitching. I was in a dopey mood so I asked about last night. All he said was "Gotta tell Mr. D, gotta keep Percy and Penny safe." This was starting to freak me out, so I went to talk to McKenna. She's the only one who seemed to think I hadn't lost all the sense I was born with when I talked about Mrs. Smithson. She actually seemed to believe me.

Once we got to the station Grover told me, "As soon as you get home, call this number. No cell phones, a home-phone. Got it?" I nodded as he handed me a silver card with changing backgrounds on it. I gave him a hug and said "Man, it seems like I'm gonna die or something the way you're talking!" Grover didn't get the joke until I was in my car. I will never forget the expression on his face. Pity.

Later I went up into my room and grabbed my journal. I wrote,

_Dear Journal,_

_Is everyone freaked out by me lastly? I swear it's freaking' weird!_

_Everywhere I go, I think someone's stalking me! I know, it sounds weird. But I can feel it in my bones. Well, what's a 14 year-old gotta fear? _

_End for today._

I know, I seem babyish, but Mom wants me to keep a dairy for practice writing. Anyway, I heard a rustle coming in the window. I turned nothing, just a note.

I remembered, call Grover. I raced down the stairs and grabbed the phone. One ring, two rings, "Hello?" It wasn't Grover.

"Uh, hi. Grover told me to call. We're friends from school." I told the mystery person.

"I'll get him, by the way my name is Percy." he said, sudden panic filled his voice.

"My name's Penny."

I heard rustling as the guy handed the phone to Grover.

"Hey Penny!" Grover said.

"You told me to call…"

"Stay right there for the next couple of days okay?" Wow, way to get to the point.

"Sure." he sighed.

"Thanks! See ya soon!"

He hung up; only until I heard the click I remembered what he said on the bus. It involved that Percy guy.

Three days later.

It was raining. I was writing when I heard a thump coming from the roof. I guess I was having an ADHD moment, because I went up to the roof, once I got there I saw three kids, two boys one girl and four pegisi. Wait! Those exist?

"Hey, uh, Penny right?" the middle person said.

"Yeah…what's going on here?" I asked.

"Get on." the girl said quickly, "Hurry!"

Before I got on, like many horribly stupid things I've done in my life, I ran to my neighbor, McKenna's house. I woke her up and without explaining, brought her outside. The summer night made everything wet and hot and I got sweaty. Without her even having a say in the matter, I brought her into my house then in my room. The window was already and a gust of wind whipped both my long black hair and McKenna's dark brown super curly hair. As soon as she peeked outside, McKenna blinked twice and rubbed her eyes and looked as if she was going to pass out if she looked a second longer.

"Get on before something comes." the girl said.

I had an instinct to say, "Who died and made you queen," and "What things?" But I got on, very quickly pulling Sarah behind me. I didn't feel her moving herself and thought she really _had_ passed out. I heard a noise in the background, rustling.

"Uh, what's that and what am I on?" I asked.

"No time! Gotta get to New York!"

"Wait wha-" Then a sharp gust of wind filled my lungs and I was suddenly 190 feet in the air. 180 maybe, but you get it, VERY high. I screamed but then one of the kids covered my mouth. I looked at them with angry eyes. They mouthed _Sorry._ That made me feel much better.

That was the end and beginning of my life.

"Scared huh?" the girl asked. I nodded.

"Oh this is nothing. Wait until training starts! It gave me chills my first summer here! But, now it's less fun, you chose a bad year to be a newbie." Percy said. Then I glanced his way again and there seemed to be something familiar about him. I don't have much imagination, but I just _knew_ I'd seen him somewhere before. Sometime ago.

I was having one of my famous ADHD moments so I blurted out, "What's your whole name?"

"Percy Jackson. But call me Percy. It's weird when people say your first and last name, it seems like your yelling at them right?" He laughed at the fact of the matter, I joined him. I was getting hysteria. I didn't even know that could happen to regular people. I was regular, right?

"So, what's so awesome about camp?"

He looked back and muttered something in what I was guessing was Greek. Thank heavens (Hey, my mom is rather on the old side) I took some of that in school. She said something like "Innocence is bliss." That was a cliché. But then she turned around and said, "Nothing and everything is wrong about it."

"That's about as clear as mud." I muttered. They didn't seem to hear me though. Then someone said we were at Long Island.

I was excited in my head, but my gut said something BIG was about to happen. That's when I started to listen to my gut more than my head in new situations.


	3. Chapter 3

I'm a Demigod. Oh, Joy!

I was tired, so when I saw camp for the first time it was filled with dancing unicorns and black dots. Annabeth and another guy, I think his name was something Stoll, were having trouble carrying me. I guess they were tired too. But still, I remember being awed by its presence. I felt some weird connection to this place.

Sarah was awake and still having I'm-so-totally-freaked-out disease. They carried me to what they called the 'Big House'. Really, I thought of it as a giant cotton ball (did I mention I get loopy before I go to sleep?). But I was inside of it and thank God, I was sort of awake by then. I saw Mr. Brunner in his wheel chair. Sure enough he didn't have hooves, but why was he here? And why am **I**here?

"Questions will be answered Penny." Mr. Brunner answered as if he read my mind. Annabeth mouthed 'Good luck!' as I walked into a tunnel and saw a man wearing zebra sweats cussing as he fumbled around with a tape.

Have you ever seen a movie that just plain sucked? Well take that movie, and the orientation movie was 39 times cheesier, and well, more awful than that. I thought I was watching a freakin' puberty video when it first came on.

_Hello Demigod! That's right, you're a demigod! _My eye twitched, this lady had on a plastic red dress and a 80s afro. It felt like reading in front of the **school**was more fun than watching her talk about some nonsense. When was this movie made? The 80s? I looked for a way out and saw this guy with eyes in your not so average places. Better to sit down and not offend him or anything.

_See, you've heard about Greek Myths right? Well, it turns out that they are real! YAY! And you are related to a Greek God or Goddess! _Wow, way to drop a bomb, the rest of the movie was a blur, the only things I caught were that my Greek teacher trained Hercules (again, way to drop a bomb) and his name was Chiron and he was a centaur! (Way to drop a bomb) And that guy in zebra sweats was Dionysus. (You get the idea.) It went on to say how we were heroes and how this place protected us and, well, it was too much. I stumbled up the tunnel after that. Some people were sitting in a circle. I sighed and said, "Think of remaking that orientation movie. It sucked." They laughed at me for saying that.

"We've tired, but now isn't a great time for that." I saw a girl working on her make-up. I rolled my eyes at that. A campfire isn't the best place to apply make-up.

"Why isn't it a good time to remake a movie? Isn't this a summer camp for," I gulped my new found identity wasn't too fitting for me, "Demigods?" They nodded and I continued, "And if this is summer camp, can't we make a new 15 minute movie?" Their faces looked grim. Even the girl applying make-up stopped for a while.

"What?" I asked.

"Kronos's war. No fun this summer." A guy in the back of the room said.

"Never was, doofus." said another boy not that far away.

"Well, Welcome Percy Jackson." Chiron/ Mr. Brunner greeted. I looked at Percy, I felt like I knew him, just somehow I knew him.

"Didn't I talk to you on the phone?" I asked him. He nodded and then his eyes grew wide. Someone screamed and then a HUGE dog pounced on top of me. I screamed then everyone laughed. It was licking me and I was laughing so hard I peed myself (almost anyway).

"Mrs. O'Leary, Penny. Penny Mrs. O'Leary." Percy introduced me to this massive creature. The dog sat down and stuck out a paw for me to shake.

I thought that that was sort of strange, but the polite thing to do was greet. "Nice to meet you too!" I said to the dog. I offered out my hand. I got an ear-pounding bark in reply.

"She likes you." Percy concluded. I nodded. How could it **not**like me? Just kidding I'm not cocky. But people still seemed to be shocked.

"What, she's a dog. Dogs like people!" I said.

"I once knew this Doberman." a girl wearing a floral headband said. She shuddered at the memory.

"No," Annabeth said, "she only likes some people because she's a Hellhound, a monster." I backed up from the overly-generous saliva-giving dog/hellhound.

"Relax. She's tame." she assured me. That didn't give me much confidence, but I sighed with relief.

And that was the beginning of learning; I still had a whole textbook to go through.

"_That's_ the hellhound?" my friend McKenna was awake (this was a week later and Mrs. O'Leary had come back) and was excited about everything going on around her. Some time ago, she found out that she was a daughter of Demeter and exclaimed, "That's makes lots of sense. Like for out second grade science project, my lima bean grew the quickest." What she didn't understand was that her whole life, she'd been in great danger. Grover said the smell demigods made was stronger for us with us being friends and all. He still can't understand why we weren't found out.

I walked into the Hermes cabin. Everyone smiled at me. I waved at them. Then suddenly remembering all those myths with Hermes, I fingered my pocket where I kept my locket, my Mother's first and last gift to me. They laughed and said, "That's so stereotypical of you! Hermes is a nice guy, and, whoa is that 14 karat gold?" A guy asked me hungrily (who I learned later was Conner Stoll.) Before he could even think about it, I grabbed his arm and said, "I have 4 cousins who wrestle and do martial arts, and they taught me moves. So touch my stuff and then you'll be in the scissors for three weeks. Got it?" They nodded and I said, "My brothers _did_wrestle, but I won't use you for practice dummies." They all sighed and I turned around jokingly, "Yet."


	4. Chapter 4

The Body don't lie

I felt at ease with these people. Sure being the only sane girl in the cabin wasn't fun, but hey, I still got to make 50 pranks throughout the night. When it came time for sacrifices, which I thought was going to be all gory but then again this was a camp… People lined up one cabin at a time, Hermes went first. I took a piece of my pie and asked if my mom/dad was out there looking for me and send me a signal. Then I heard plates rattle behind me, someone gasped I looked up, Mark Farmer got claimed. He was a son of Ares. Everyone cheered. I was jealous. My first thought was, _"So _that's_ why he always threatened and fought people."_ My second one was dripping with envy. _"I've been here a week. When will I be claimed?"_

I was walking to my cabin on a real hot day. I had two bottles of water and then they didn't seem like enough. I just wanted to jump in the ocean and never come out. I was just finishing one of my water bottles when a group of extremely buff girls got in my way.

"Orientation time!" The middle one (and obviously the leader) said.

"Can this wait until later? I mean we _are_ all family right?" I said with my voice getting softer at each word.

"No, it's now or never."

"I choose never please!" I said to her threat. "Besides, who do you think you are by telling me what to do?"

"Kids of Ares," said a girl with really short blond hair. "We're here to show who is boss." She smiled in my face. "And there's nothing you can do about it."

"Whatever." I muttered. I tried to find a way around them, but they blocked every move I made. Telling them I had cousins wasn't going to make them leave.

The leader grabbed me by the shoulders. I took a good look at her and saw a permanent scowl and stringy brown hair. There was a girl who had the face of a rebel. "What'd you say, punk?" She eyed me hungrily.

"Slug her Clarisse. She's too much of a wimp to fight back anyway. Just like all the other punks here."

I had a sudden impulse to slug _them_. Here I was minding my own business and a group of bullies get in my face. I couldn't take this. I fingered my water bottle. As if that could help me. I would spray the water in their face and make a run for it. Get real. As soon as they'd find me, I'd be a living corpse. Then I did the stupidest thing.

I took out the water bottle. I shook it with all I had. I felt something tugging in my gut but took little notice of that. I took a quick glance at it to see that it was foaming at the top like a soda. I opened it up real fast and threw it in the air. Before it came down, I made a run for it.

"Hey!" Clarisse, I saw didn't notice the bottle making an aim for her head. Her buddies stepped behind her like a few yards back. It came down and exploded like a cherry bomb. Not that I'd know what a cherry bomb would explode. I never put a cherry bomb inside of a frog to see what happened. Um, forget what I just said.

"Oooaahh!" I heard Clarisse yell an inhuman scream. "You are DEAD, punk! I will find you! And when I do..." I didn't here the rest because I was running and I didn't want to be killed just then. Just a few more happy days of camp. When I'm upset, you can pulverize me. Face it. I was scared and wanted this all to end.

After that little run in with the extremely buff girls, I made sure to piss them off later. But it was dinner and I had a good feeling that something was going to happen to me today. I just knew it. And I was right, but also wrong (getting the theme right?).

So, dinner went on as usual. I few farting powder in the drinks and hot sauce on the hotdogs courtesy of the Hermes cabin, nothing out of the ordinary, but I was still scared from the run in with those three girls. So when it was time for sacrifices I was in line and prayed that I would get claimed, by anyone. Even Hermes seemed okay. And I got my wish. Sorta.

I dropped my steak into the fire. I wasn't hungry tonight. Then I went back to my table and sat down. I sighed as someone else was giving announcements about this war going on or something…but then I heard a gasp, and plates dropped. Then people were saying 'Look at her!" "Last time we saw that it was with Percy!" So naturally I looked above my head, and there was a trident, I was a daughter of Poseidon, a mistake.

Then I remembered. Just vaguely.

Sally looked at baby Peruses (on the left) and baby Penelope (on the right).

"They're so beautiful Sally." A voice said behind her.

"Yes Mara, they are." Sally said to her best friend Mara Lewis. "I won't be able to keep both of them," Sally sighed. "Gabe can't stand one child. Let alone twin children."

"Did you want me and Keith to take one?" she asked.

"Better you than a stranger." Sally said.

"Which one?" she asked.

"I have been expecting a boy, so I think you should take Penny." Sally said with some difficulty.

"Are you sure Sal?"

"She needs a good home." she said. "And remember what Poseidon said about Camp Half-Blood. It would be safer for both of them."

"I can't," Mara said as they were filling out the paperwork. "My mom, though, lives down in Virginia. She's really kind with children."

"Well, let's hope she doesn't spoil her." Sally said. Mara chuckled.

"You can visit you know." she said.

"I don't think that would be best. Honestly, I think it would be safer if I stayed out of her life." Sally stifled a small sob. "I think that'll be the hardest decision that I'll ever make..." she couldn't go on.

"She needs both a good home and a good life. That's what Poseidon would want. It would be safer if they didn't cross lines and meet each other." Mara said as Sally finished her paperwork.

_It would be better if I stayed out of her life. It would be better if I stayed out of her life._ That line kept replaying itself in my mind. I knew mom could've mentioned my real parent. Or maybe my real mom could've visited once in a while. I knew she did this to keep me alive. But still. Why?

I knew it would be babyish to say good bye to the Hermes cabin. I still would see them for the rest of summer. But now, I had to pack up and leave to a cabin already occupied by Percy. My twin who I was never supposed to cross lines with ever in her life.


End file.
